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==Production==

The film was a remake of ''The Richest Girl in the World''. Bert Gance produced it at RKO. He borrowed Henry and Phoebe Ephron from Fox to rewrite the script - not to change the structure but to 'jazz it up". The Ephrons had never written a full script before - Fox hired them off the back of the success of a play they had written - so they asked a secretary who had been the best screenwriter to ever work at the studio; she said [[Norman Krasna]] so they got every Krasna script they got and copied how he did his scripts. When they started writing the star was going to be [[Dorothy McGuire]] but she was replaced shortly before production by Laraine Day. Henry Ephron said they "had written the part for McGuire's original and somewhat eccentric style (she hardly ever came through the front door; she always climbed in through the window)" but felt Day was "fine. A good enough actress and quite beautiful."<ref>{{cite book|page=38|first=Henry|last=Ephron|title=We thought we could do anything : the life of screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron|year=1977 |publisher= Norton}}</ref>
==Reception==
==Reception==
The film made a profit of $600,000.<ref name="uni">Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016</ref>
The film made a profit of $600,000.<ref name="uni">Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016</ref>

Revision as of 05:29, 17 October 2019

Bride by Mistake
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Wallace
Written byHenry Ephron
Phoebe Ephron
Produced byBert Granet
StarringAlan Marshal
Laraine Day
CinematographyNicholas Musuraca
Edited byLes Millbrook
Music byRoy Webb
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • September 15, 1944 (1944-09-15)[1]
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$600,000[2]

Bride by Mistake (1944) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Wallace, and starring Alan Marshal and Laraine Day.

The screenplay is by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, based on a story by Norman Krasna, and is a remake of The Richest Girl in the World (1934).

Plot

Home from the war, Captain Tony Travis (Alan Marshal) eyes an estate in Santa Barbara and wonders what it must be like to be that rich. It is the property of the fabulously wealthy Nora Hunter (Laraine Day), who has secretary and friend Sylvia Lockwood (Marsha Hunt) impersonate her in public. Longtime guardian Jonathan Connors (Edgar Buchanan) protects his ward's privacy zealously. During a ship launching, a press photographer takes Nora's picture, but Connors sees to it that the camera film is ruined.

Sylvia tells Nora that she is quitting so that she can accompany her husband, Phil Vernon (Allyn Joslyn), whose job requires him to move to Washington. Nora decides to marry her fiance Donald (William Post Jr.) so that Sylvia can be her maid of honor at her wedding, but when Donald returns from military duty, he breaks the news that he has fallen in love with someone else.

Nora hosts a tea, but has Sylvia again pretend to be her. There she meets and takes a liking to Tony, but he is more interested in Sylvia. On hearing him vow that love is more important to him than money, Nora and Sylvia invite him to a weekend at Nora's beach house. Nora helps Tony court Sylvia, so that if he does genuinely love the real Nora, it will not be because of her money. All of her friends tell her she is being foolish, that nobody can resist that much temptation, but she stubbornly persists.

Mix-ups ensue. While tipsy, Sylvia accepts a marriage proposal from Tony. That night, Tony sees Phil sneak to Sylvia's bedroom for a late night hug. The next morning, he punches the overly cheerful Phil over it. Nora tells him that she and Sylvia switched rooms that night. Despite this "confession", he eventually realizes who he really loves, tosses the protesting Nora over his shoulder and carries her away to get married. On their honeymoon night in a cheap motel, Nora finally reveals her true identity. Tony is disgusted and starts to leave, but then sees her for the first time in her nightgown and stays.

Cast

Production

The film was a remake of The Richest Girl in the World. Bert Gance produced it at RKO. He borrowed Henry and Phoebe Ephron from Fox to rewrite the script - not to change the structure but to 'jazz it up". The Ephrons had never written a full script before - Fox hired them off the back of the success of a play they had written - so they asked a secretary who had been the best screenwriter to ever work at the studio; she said Norman Krasna so they got every Krasna script they got and copied how he did his scripts. When they started writing the star was going to be Dorothy McGuire but she was replaced shortly before production by Laraine Day. Henry Ephron said they "had written the part for McGuire's original and somewhat eccentric style (she hardly ever came through the front door; she always climbed in through the window)" but felt Day was "fine. A good enough actress and quite beautiful."[3]

Reception

The film made a profit of $600,000.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bride by Mistake: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  2. ^ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p195
  3. ^ Ephron, Henry (1977). We thought we could do anything : the life of screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Norton. p. 38.
  4. ^ Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016